Cultural Differences In Health Care

an American Indian male with diabetes who receives care at a non-tribal clinic. He reports that he does not feel much of a connection with his provider or his clinic, and says that he feels misunderstood when he tells his provider about his traditional healing practices.  He struggles to remember to take his medications and sometimes does not take them because he feels that they don’t work.

Culture has more than one definition. It can be defined as the language spoken throughout a group of people or even the beliefs practiced. In the professional field of nursing, nurses are required to do more than administer medication or change bandages on a patient. To be able to fulfill a nurse’s job requirements, a nurse must learn to be culturally competent. Cultural competency in the professional field of nursing means to care and respect the patient whether or not the health care provider is in agreement with the patient’s decisions.

Introduction: Cultures, social, ethnicity, English proficiency are factors that my significantly affect the quality of healthcare. Patient’s perspective, values, beliefs and behavior are highly influenced by the sociocultural background pf the patient (1-5). These factors can affect dealing with patient’s symptoms, seeking care, pain toleration, care adherence, preventive measure, and health care expectations.

Bias is the negative assessment of one group and its members, This may, for example, direct or more indirect expression. Present bias may threat patient- clinician communication, decrease efficiency of patient-health care providers’ relationships and increase distrust in health care settings (Blair, Steiner & Havranek, 2011).

Social. People from different social backgrounds may communicate differently than what we are used to. While it is important to maintain a professional persona in our working lifeâ€TMs it is sometimes important to adjust our responses/answers to make others feel comfortable and confident with us.

Health care disparities in the United States occur on the provider level. The implicit biases providers are susceptible to help shape physician behavior and produce differences in medical treatment across a host of demographic characteristics but mainly along the lines of race and ethnicity. This paper focuses mainly on the relationship between providers and Black Americans. There is a complex and historical relationship between providers and Black Americans which dates back to the 16th century that is the basis for the biases physicians exhibit towards this particular minority group in today’s healthcare system. Contrary to popular belief, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1932 is not the forerunner to a host of medical abuses committed against

Culturally Competent Health Care: A Look into Mexican-American Culture With cultural diversity in the United States coming to an all-time high, it is essential for nursing professionals to learn to provide culturally congruent care for their patients. In order to provide this type of care, nurses must realize that every culture has their own set of values, beliefs, behavior patterns and lifestyles. By gathering information specific to a culture such as their definition of health, traditional health practices, and typical behaviors regarding health, nurses are able to use preservation and accommodation in order to provide culturally congruent care for their patients.

Providing medical care to patients with limited or no knowledge of the English language can be very challenging. Miscommunication, different believes and issues can interfere with a good relationship between the health care giver, the patient and very often the patient´s family. I chose to include the patient´s family because the majority of the Latino population gives a big value to the family which is always present when there is a need to take an important decision such as health treatments.

Overall, the health of Americans has improved over the past several decades. However, there is still an inconsistency between the health of various racial groups, minorities, and Caucasians (Cook, Kosoko-Lasaki, & O'Brien, R., 2005). Bakullari et al. (2014) report that specific research related to patient safety and racial and ethnic differences in HAIs is also lacking. As a result of these discrepancies, Bakullari et al. (2014) implemented a study to determine the rate and occurrence of HAIs in six specific racial/ethnic groups (white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, Asian, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and other). What they found was that Hispanic and Asian populations had a significantly higher occurrence of HAIs than white non-Hispanic populations (Bakullari et al., 2014).

Going to a different country or area of the world can open up anybody’s eyes to see that culture makes a huge impact on the understanding and practices of healthcare that seem to be so common to other areas of the world. When a person lives in one country their whole life, that person may not realize how different the life they live is from someone in a foreign country. If a person is going to receive treatment from someone with a different cultural background, they should be expected to get treatment to respects their own culture. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences having such a diverse variety of students has their own cultural competency definition that states “effectively and comfortably communicate across cultures

The failure to understand cultural differences is the root cause of health disparities in America. Our history of racial and economic injustice has left people marginalized, disadvantaged, and disproportionately impoverished. As the only industrialized country without universal healthcare, we are spending twice as much on healthcare as other countries. Importance of the public coming to terms with inequalities leads to demanding change for every citizen to be healthy in order to live their best life.

The absence or presence or social equity is a relevant fact that can interfere on social, behavioral and cultural determinants that impact the public health. Usually, people that are part of groups with deficient access to social basic needs have more risk of suffering from conditions that can lead to diseases or premature death. The public health condition of a population is strongly associated with patterns of inequality in society.

When it comes to public health, according to lecture, it is the public health promotion and the prevention of disease through research and health practices at the population level (Rhoads, 2018). In order to effectively to carry out the goals and practices in the field of public health, looking at culture, health disparities, health equity, and social determinants are all important definitions that are directly related to the field of public health. It is also important to understand how each of these definitions are important to public health and how the absence of even one of these terms can significantly change the impact of a public health goal or objective. When it comes to culture in relation to public health, it is important to research

“Demographics of the US population have changed dramatically in the last three decades. These changes directly impact the healthcare industry in regard to the patients we serve and our workforce” (Borkowski, 2012). In fact, Voutsas (2011) argues that the U.S workforce is the most demographically heterogeneous workforce in the world and he believes that this is due to major changes and diversity .Borkowski (2012) also states that the significant changes in the US populations has been seen greatly in regards to gender, age ,and race and ethnicity .

Cultural values in health care play a very important role in the outcome of ailment or diseases process of an individual. That is because people from the same culture share distinct characteristics which make them standout from members of other cultures. Those characteristics and values usually determine whether or not an individual seek professional care for the disease or comply with prescribed regimen, or care-plan. It is therefore important to recognize a strong bond between cultural diversity in healthcare, especially in nursing and the ability to not only to provide quality nursing-care, but also one that is culturally competent. A report by Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2001) revealed that nurses, and other healthcare providers, who provide health care to a culturally diverse population in different settings, need to be cultural diverse, and also be competent in order to eliminate ethnic healthcare disparities . Nursing care should be planned in such a way that